American Idol heads to the land of Carrie Underwood. Will they find a new winner there? Share your opinions on the show in the Idol Chatter live blog. -- Brian Mansfield

A surprise ending: Kayden Stephenson was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 18 months. He's now 16 years old, and he's probably lived half his life: His life expectancy, he says, is 35 years.

"Knowing that my illness is terminal is definitely scary, but, also, it gives me an opportunity to do everything now, while I'm young."

He needs a few bars to get fully into Stevie Wonder's I Wish, but he does OK, once he locked in. And between his charming personality, his baby face, and his inspiring back story, he's a Hollywood shoo-in.

"I feel like I'm the luckiest person in the world," Stephenson tells Ryan Seacrest as he leaves the audition room.

Getting in the Zoanette: Zoanette Johnson's golden ticket must have given some of the other singers hope. Which the judges promptly dash. Tears flow freely. Even for one that goes to Hollywood. Even for one that hasn't auditioned yet.

Anastacia Freeman needs a deep breath to center herself. And then she promptly trips and falls as she goes before the judges. The judges suggest she might take off her shoes, and she does.

Nicki Minaj is heartened by her song choice -- Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart -- until she actually starts to sing. Then the judges start looking like they wish they had their cellphones so they could start checking their messages.

The judges start laughing at her. And Freeman notices.

"Are you laughing at me?" she asks.

Oh, no, they reply.

So Freeman finishes.

And now nobody's laughing.

Randy Jackson wonders who told Freeman to audition for Idol.

God, she says. A few weeks after Phillip Phillips won Idol won last seasons, Freeman was writing in her journal when she started hearing a voice that told her to audition. But the judges heard a different voice -- Freeman's -- and sent her home.

Freeman will never listen to Mariah Carey again, she says, and she didn't listen to Nicki Minaj anyway, "so that's no big loss."

Guess Keith Urban gets off the hook.

***

What just happened here?: So Oklahoma's wholesome and sweet and pretty. Except for Zoanette Johnson, who's wearing a pink dress and a yellow top and a hairy black vest.

But Zoanette has a patriotic side: She told her family if Obama won the election, she'd audition with the national anthem.

Beyonce, she's not. Black Roseanne Barr, she might be.

And she forgets the words. Oh, the notes, too.

She does have some serious range, though. I'll give her that. And, after she sings, she goes into a nonsensical, vaguely patriotic rant that ends with her staring the judges down, saying, "Come on, I've got a lunch date."

Best bad audition of the season. Good enough to get a golden ticket, believe it or not. Don't know how long she'll last, but you can bet she'll be back for the finale.

***

The puppet master: Halie Hilburn has been a ventriloquist since she was 9 years old. Oscar, her dog puppet, thinks she's a great singer.

"It's about time for someone crazy!" she says to the judges as she walks into the audition room. She's got a pleasantly old-fashioned voice, and she even yodels a bit as she sings Patsy Montana's (I Want to Be A) Cowboy's Sweetheart. The judges aren't quite sure what to make of her, so they ask for 15 seconds of her singing without the puppet.

Tip for Halie: Ditch the puppet.

"Baby, you can sing!" Keith Urban tells her. So Hilburn gets to go to Hollywood, but Oscar could have cost her the spot: Randy was ready to turn her down.

"Oscar will not be going to Hollywood, as upset as he may be," Hilburn says afterward.

And, of course, Oscar the puppet winds up in the trash can. You knew it had to happen.

***

The Tao of Idol: From the looks of things, Karl Skinner may be the one of the best things Oklahoma City has to offer. The next run of contestants has the judges hiding their expressions behind their hands. When they're not busting out laughing.

"What is happening in Oklahoma, man?" wonders Randy Jackson.

Maybe Nate Tao will do better. He's a sign-language instructor whose parents are both deaf. (Which, among other things, meant they couldn't tell him whether or not he sang well -- considering how many tone-deaf parents we've seen on the show over the years, that may not be a bad thing.)

It's a shame they can't hear him. As he sings Stevie Wonder's For Once in My Life, he reveals a lovely tone, and one that just gets better the higher he goes. Jackson finds him unassuming and appealing; Keith Urban thinks Tao makes singing look easy.

"They all said yes, which is a huge compliment from some really amazing people," Tao says afterward.

***

Sooner or later: It took 12 seasons to get American Idol to Oklahoma City. Have they saved the best for last? The state certainly has produced some great talent over the years, as Keith Urban points out: Vince Gill, Ronnie Dunn ... Carrie Underwood.

Karl Skinner's the first guy up tonight, and he's someone who initially auditioned in Joplin, Mo., as part of the show's small-town bus tour.

Skinner brings his guitar to the audition, and he's full of nervous energy: "Can I move around?" he asks the judges. But he's not a country singer: Skinner fancies himself a red-headed James Brown. And he's got a few moves. But when he picks up the guitar, he sounds more like the country type the judges probably expected. It's not bad, but Urban wonders what he wants to be as an artist. "I want to be uncomparable," Skinner says. Randy thinks he could be an Idol mascot, 'cause Skinner seems like he's up for anything. Honestly, the talent's in question, but the personality gets him through to Hollywood -- unanimously.